NOTE: The publisher graciously gave me a copy of this book and asked me to write a review.

The specter of a nuclear meltdown is one of the biggest realistic fears we face today, as evidenced by disasters and near-disasters whose names are now commonplace like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. And, as if the real threat of a meltdown isn't sobering enough, we have had some terrific fictional thrillers on the subject, such as the film "The China Syndrome." Against that backdrop, author G.P. James contributes his own would-be thriller, "Meltdown," But while the subject matter of James's book is fascinating, the story itself resembles some of the victims in the book... buried under a mountain of excess verbiage.

The plot of “Meltdown” involves a nuclear incident at the Bear Mountain nuclear power plant (a fictionalized version of the actual Indian Point plant) about 35 miles north of New York City right outside of the town of Peekskill. A major earthquake occurs only a couple of miles away, damaging the reactor and leading to a cascading series of events that threaten to bring about the release of lethal doses of radiation into the environment headed straight towards the Big Apple. Trying to stop the potential catastrophe is Trace Crane, the plant supervisor, while Trace’s wife Avi has a crisis of her own, trying to find the couple’s preschool daughter, who has been missing since the earthquake hit.

Author James doesn’t have a background in nuclear physics or engineering, but he appears to have done his homework as far as the science is concerned. Based on what I could tell from the book, the science and the dangerous situations that arise seem plausible. What’s also very plausible are the reactions of the people involved, from corporate double talk from the head of the power company trying to avoid a meltdown in the company’s stock to anger and recriminations from Trace and his co-workers blaming each other for what goes wrong. There’s the basis for a very good, scientifically plausible thriller inside “Meltdown.” Unfortunately, the book never comes together.

“Meltdown” is a fairly long book, about 400 pages, but a lot of that is needless padding and excess trivial detail. We get descriptions of what color eyes various characters have and the style of suits they are wearing. What’s much worse, though, is that we get endless, monotonous pages of the inner thoughts of Trace and Avi. Much of this is repetitious. At least a dozen times, Trace frets that he will be blamed for everything while Avi wonders why she ever let her husband convince her to live practically next door to a nuclear reactor. Add to that dreams, reminiscences, and flashbacks (often plunked in the middle of the story so that it’s tough for readers to tell when the current action stops and the dream begins), and nearly-page-long paragraphs, and the book is a very tough slog to get through.

Ironically, while “Meltdown” adds far too much needless detail on irrelevant points, the discussion of the critical storyline, that of what’s actually happening to the reactor, is at times difficult to follow because the author doesn’t provide enough detail. I’m still not sure exactly what went wrong to start the plant malfunction, and, at times, characters announce things like pressure levels are increasing or decreasing without revealing whether that is good or bad or why. And whenever Trace gets in an argument about the best course of action with anyone, we don’t get enough information to really tell what the specific consequences of the various decisions might be. In addition, for two very smart people, Trace and Avi conveniently act like panicky idiots multiple times in the book, generally for the sole purpose of getting themselves in worse trouble.

The best parts of “Meltdown” are the most straightforward, where the author avoids long-winded descriptions and internal philosophizing in favor of sharp dialogue or action sequences. Those sections of the book reveal what “Meltdown” could have been. However, they are relatively few and far between. In fact, by the time the book was over, I had lost any real interest in the characters or what was taking place in regard to the reactor and was simply hoping that the story would finally end.

For me, the biggest surprise in “Meltdown” came in the afterward at the end, where the author thanked the various people involved in the project, including his editor. Frankly, the book’s biggest meltdown is in the editing, or, more precisely the frequent lack thereof for large portions of the text. This book really needed the author or an editor to red pencil about 100 pages or so of excess verbiage and to rethink some of the other events that occur. In its current version, however, “Meltdown” seems to have suffered a meltdown of its own.

What a scary disaster novel!

This story sounds way too plausible.

Trace Crane, a nuclear engineer and a control room supervisor at the Bear Mountain Nuclear Energy Center alongside the Hudson River near Peekskill, New York, was enjoying a cup of coffee as he's mentally already on a holiday with his wife and daughter starting that afternoon.

Then the unthinkable happens. A 6.4 earthquake hits with its epicenter in Peekskill and damages the reactor.

Crane has devoted his life to this nuclear reactor, often at the cost of time with his family, and he's in charge of making sure everything goes okay in bringing the reactor to a cold shutdown.

Meanwhile his wife has been hurt and searches for their young daughter who was at pre-school.

This is one scary book because we know it could actually happen - after Fukushima, Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl.

The book goes into a lot of detail about the nuclear reactor but it's explained in understandable terms. And there is a lot of discussion about the benefits/hazards of nuclear energy.

I highly recommend this book. I learned a lot from it but was also thoroughly entertained.

I received this book from Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

In the wake of Fukushima, and with the knowledge that nuclear power plants around the world are beginning to age, G.P. James has written a ‘what-if’ story based around the Bear Mountain nuclear power plant in Peekskill, New York. An unexpected earthquake leads to damage at the plant and a battle for control of the reactor by the experienced engineers working there, led by Trace Crane.

A lot of people, thinking of a control room supervisor in a nuclear power plant, will inevitably think of Homer Simpson, but the only thing Trace and Homer have in common is that they are both overweight and they both have a family. The story is told largely through Trace’s eyes as he fights, with his highly-skilled crew, to bring the rogue reactor back under control, all while worrying about his wife, Avi, and their daughter. Sections are told through Avi’s eyes as a member of the public outside the plant, dealing with the aftermath of a major earthquake and evacuation of an urban area.

The blurb for this book is pretty misleading. While it says “As the condition of the reactor plummets and radiation is released into the environment, Trace is left to choose between saving the nuclear plant, the East Coast, and the twenty million residents of the NYC metro area or finding his family and saving himself”, in reality, there are no good choices here, as the engineers at Fukushima must have discovered in the wake of the tsunami. There is no derring-do and saving the day heroics. There is no feel-good ending here, for anyone.

The technical detail in Meltdown is well-written and feels thoroughly researched, and I felt like we really got to know Trace and Avi through glimpses of their lives together, told in flashback. The problem was that these personal sections, while helping to give the tragedy a human face, also served to slow the pace of the story to an absolute drag at times. The author’s long-wided phrasing didn’t help. I knew I was in for a heavy read when I started the book and the first two sentences were 52 and 65 words long respectively. Apparently G.P. James’ editor hasn’t heard of the truism that the first sentence should be short, snappy and hook the reader into the story.

This definitely doesn’t have ‘the pace of the Bourne Identity’ as the blurb claims. It’s a slow, heavy wade through the life of a boring man called upon to perform some extraordinary deeds and still failing to win the day. As a thriller, you’ll be bored stiff. However, as a terrifying prediction of how a crisis at a nuclear plant on the East Coast of the US might play out, it’s an intriguing read.

As such, Meltdown isn’t not easy to rate. At the end of the day, I picked it up thinking I was getting a thriller and was decidedly un-thrilled, so I think I’ll settle for three stars.

Meltdown
GP James

An suspenseful story that grabs you from the beginning with unrelenting tension throughout.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
August 6 started out as any other day for Control Room Supervisor Trace Crane. It was a hot summer morning and Trace had been in the office, sitting at his metal desk with his favorite mug, filled with coffee, since six am. At 8:27am an earthquake registering 6.4 on the Richter scale hits Peekskill NY, an area just 35 miles from New York City. The Bear Mountain Energy Center was hit hard, and the control room for Reactor three is in chaos. Alarms lights are flashing red all over the control room and sirens are blaring. Trace’s nuclear operators are in panic mode. Reactor pressure is dropping, coolant is falling, feed water is down and there is a fire in the auxiliary building.

Trace, with fifteen years experience, fights to save the reactor, while his wife Avi searches for their daughter, Brooklyn, who had been at daycare when the earthquake hit. The roads are impassable and communication lines are down. As the condition of the reactor plummets and radiation is released into the environment, Trace is left to choose between saving the nuclear plant, and the 20 million residents of the New York City metro area or finding his family and saving himself.

REVIEW
MELT DOWN grabs you from the beginning and the intensity and tension rarely lets up. Chapters alternate between Trace and Avi, documenting their parallel experiences, giving two different perspectives. The writing is good, although there were a couple of places that Trace’s thought processes or mindset was a little overdone. Trace and Avi were both well developed characters. Trace’s feeling and raw emotions were evident throughout the book. I particularly appreciated Avi’s strength and fortitude in overcoming obstacles in looking for Brooklyn and getting out of the city.

Let me preface my next comments by saying in a previous life I was a utility company regulator. I have been in several nuclear plants and am familiar with the required safety regulations, requirements and NRC’s daily oversight of each plant. The lack of maintenance described in the book is unrealistic. There is no doubt earthquakes can happen and maybe a scenario like this could occur, but it is doubtful it will be from lack of maintenance at a nuclear plant. The more I read the more I felt like I was reading another anti-nuclear energy scare-tactic propaganda. Author GP JAMES Is a “multi-faceted creator living in Los Angeles, crafting works that explore social awareness and the human psyche - delving into the nature of reality, consciousness and existential questions faced by many. He has written four screenplays and two novels and several volumes of poetry.” Thanks to NetGalley, Wyatt-MacKenzie and GP James for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Book publication date May 15, 2018.

Wow this was an intense book.It read like a novelization of a screen play and contained in depth detail that added to rather than took away from the story.

Trace is a sympathetic character. He is a man that just wants to make a difference in the world and to do that he throws himself into his work. This creates a divide between him and his wife and is ruining his marriage.This is a man who is stuck between a rock and a hard place when the earthquakes happen and nuclear melt down starts.

His wife Avi is trying to find her daughter in the destroyed city.I found her somewhat grating but I'd also be a mess in the situation so it comes across as realistic. She is also into the alternative energy program but having her husband spend most of his time at work has taken its toll on her.

This definitely reminded me of the Fukushima and Chernobyl incidents. The perspective of an energy worker, an anti nuclear energy person and the chaos from the fallout it handled well. While there is a message to this it isn't too ham fisted for someone who tends to fall on the other side of the issues.

There is on death and destruction.There is also movie thriller esque action. I highly recommend.

Aging nuclear plants, failing infrastructure and a pass the buck mentality have led to a complete failure of one of the plants after a 6.1 earthquake rocks New York. 

Trace Cane is caught trying to manage the damage while dealing with a know it all underling and the suits and politicians. As the reactor melts down his family is dealing with the results of the earthquake and trying to evacuate the city. Trace is torn between saving lives or leaving to find his family. Will they or will he survive?

I would like to say that I am not fond of books that advertise they are 'like' a book or author. It rarely pans out to be the same thing and this is true for this book. 

I can't say I cared what happened to the characters, bouncing back and forth from one to the other, from past to present and I still didn't feel anything for any of them. I would have liked to have seen less diagrams and more depth. While it is a good premise, it falls short of comparisons to Crichton or Brown.

Netgalley/May 15th 2018 by Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing

A natural disaster, coupled with poorly maintained and failing infrastructure is a recipe for disaster. Reading MELTDOWN actually gave me a headache because the unrelenting tension made me live through the agony through which the protagonists were living. Although I had to take a break from reading, I certainly wasn't ready to give up on the book.

The poorly maintained nuclear power plant combined with an earthquake (4.6 on the Richter Scale) is the very definition of disaster. Add to this that the epicenter of the quake is Peekskill, New York, some 50 miles from New York City, and the potential for a mega disaster is not unthinkable. The man in charge must deal with the realities of both the possibilities of reactor failure resulting in a nuclear event that will impact millions and his personal dilemma over not knowing the fate of his wife and four-year-old daughter.

Fortunate, or not, it seems that everything I read these days is colored by the political situation here in the United States. With the EPA gutted, the possibilities MELTDOWN suggests are all too real. Worker safety is not valued over profits, spin means more that truth. All of these things are brought to bear on what is a heart wrenching family drama exacerbated by the truth that technology is great while its working but not so beneficial when the only way to fix a problem is by a book of untested theoretical proposals. The manuals that are written from the safety of academia don't usually hold up in the trenches where experience is tested to its limits.

Everything about this book screamed New York, the New York that is more than a city. Very near the end of the book, the author refers to the four boroughs, so which one gets left behind? New York City has five boroughs - Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx. The Bronx is the only borough on the mainland of the United States. There are two standalone islands, Manhattan and Staten Island, and Brooklyn and Queens occupy their own bit of Long Island. Somehow, Staten Island gets left behind.

An aside, and nothing really to do with the reasons to read or not to read MELTDOWN, it's about New York, and I am a displaced New Yorker. This 'sounds' like New York in so many ways that it felt like a trip home.

In conclusion, MELTDOWN is a book for adrenalin junkies. It is relentless.

This is an over-written propaganda piece, essentially a detailed analysis of the problems generated in a nuclear power station after a major earthquake. Everything, including the characters, is described in minute detail. The main character is the power station manager, and the book details his actions in the attempt to mitigate the effects of the earthquake on the facility. As he deals with the issues, at the facility, he has to worry about his family, a wife and daughter, who were in the middle of the quake. He also has to deal with a subordinate who is Navy-trained and quite obnoxious in his belief that he knows everything better than his boss. The story captures the frustrating effects of the high managers and political players interfering in a process they do not understand. After plowing through the agonizing details of the action, the reader is definitely drawn to the characters on an emotional level. This sustains interest as the plot develops, and leaves genuine mixed feelings at the end.

The plot, the passion and the environmental nightmare this book conjures up deserve SIX stars out of five! I simply HAD to finish the book to find out where the characters ended up! Although very sad, it was an emotionally satisfying read. There was enough real technical information to make the plot highly realistic and the description of the urban impact of a natural disaster coupled with an environmental catastrophe have enough impact to spawn many nightmares!
The excitement of the plot was - however - not enough to raise the entire reading experience above four stars. The descriptions in some sections seemed like the author had been allocated a large number of adjectives for which he was obliged to find a home! The technique of mental flashback away from reality into a happier memory was way over-used. (The technique was really well utilized at the end of the book - but by then, the reader is tempted to skip over yet another section in italics!)
The physical and relational descriptions of the main characters is brilliant! They felt like real people I have met in numerous places. Their angry and semi-psychotic outburst were, however, slightly artificial..
Personally, I found the excessive use of certain expletives and blasphemous outbursts offensive. In a few places, I could imagine the characters being pressured into such language - but not nearly as often as they succumbed in the book.
Final verdict? A satisfying read!